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Hype Magazine Interview with The Boxtones

After six months locked away in SoundStruck Studios and with their new album now on the launchpad, Dubai-based band The Boxtones have dropped a teaser of what to expect with first single Against The Odds. Written by the band's guitarist and vocalist Gary Tierney, it's "inherently a track about facing your fears and overcoming obstacles" and it's accompanied by a cracking video to boot.

"I think it's best that people listen to Against The Odds themselves and tell us what they think of it, rather than me trying to tell them what kind of song it is," said Gary of the debut single from the album. "It'll mean something different to each person who hears it but that's where I was coming from when I wrote it."

"Making the video for the single was a really amazing experience, too," added Gary. "We have to give a shout out to 815 Studios for film production and to 117Live for providing the venue at the Autism Rocks Arena. We shot on the same stage where Nicki Minaj had her gig the night before and Flo Rida the week after so it was pretty decent to be sandwiched in there. I never thought I'd talk about a Nicki Minaj/Flo Rida sandwich but then again we never thought we'd be releasing a record with Universal Music in the Middle East!"

After years of toiling away under their own steam, the five-piece - Gill and Gary Tierney, Will Janssen, Louise Peel and Patrick Thibault - were snapped up by Universal Music Middle East and North Africa last March, the first Western band to be signed to the major label. "It really meant a lot to us because we had all worked so hard for the two years leading up to getting signed," explained Gary. One of the first fully-fledged freelance bands in the region, The Boxtones performed over 200 gigs in 2014 and around 220 in 2015.

Of course, recording new album Home - due for release in November - has seen the band hibernating in the studio for much of this year so far. Home is produced by Elvis Garagic who Gary described as "the sixth Boxtone" during the recording process. "He really pushed us to think outside the box to create music that had a real living and breathing personality."

Against The Odds by The Boxtones is out now on iTunes where their album Home can also be pre-ordered.